Umbrella and Parasol Bias

[j_cheney]

From "The Officer's Guide", 1951, under the heading "Taboos" (p. 244)

Umbrellas. There is a longstanding Army taboo against an officer in uniform carrying an umbrella.

Say What? Taboo?!!

When I cornered a retired Army officer and questioned him about this, his only response was a stiff "Umbrellas aren't in the uniform code."

That only made me suspect that there's some dark secret behind this military tradition.

When I asked "If you're walking with a British officer, and he's carrying an umbrella, can you get under it?", the answer was no. Go figure. Evidently, Army officers must rely on their hat covers and other rain gear, which makes me wonder about beach umbrellas and awnings as well....do they have to go out and stand in the rain rather than stay under cover?


I admittedly don't care for umbrellas myself. They never seem to cover enough, and only do any real good in pouring rain. A light rain? I'd rather get wet. And I've never used a parasol. That's the time when I'll actually resort to a hat to protect my permanently freckled face.

I have yet to have a single POV character carry one. The military people? No, they're not going to do that. And I can get away with it, claiming it's just a military taboo! ;o)

Parasols? Imogen probably should carry one, but she's a bit of a hoyden, and doesn't bother. Miralys? She's naturally brown-skinned, so it wouldn't make sense. Other girly-girls I've written? Gosh, I don't do too many of those.

So I suppose I must challenge myself to write a few more girly-girls to get the umbrellas and parasols into play. Hmmm....there must be a good prompt in there somewhere...

Comments

[albogdan.livejournal.com]

As a tradition, I could see umbrellas as really bad gear for the military. They don't prepare you very well for battle. First off, your hands probably should not be used to being encumbered by anything that isn't a weapon. Pointy sticks don't count. You'd better also be ready to deal with rain (or worse) in the face without complaining. And waving something in the air is usually not a really good sign that things are going well if you're in the military.

I remember being young and thinking it not very manly to carry one, but luckily I'm now secure in my masculinity (OK, I'm really just to old to care) and have absolutely no problems carrying one. Preferably black.

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Black is macho...

[albogdan.livejournal.com]

He, he. (You got my joke.) :-)